Low power and Lossy Networks (LLNs), e.g., sensor networks, have a myriad of applications, such as Smart Grid and Smart Cities. Various challenges are presented with LLNs, such as lossy links, low bandwidth, battery operation, low memory and/or processing capability, etc., particularly given that LLNs are generally a shared-media communication network. One example routing solution to LLN challenges is a protocol called Routing Protocol for LLNs or “RPL,” which is a distance vector routing protocol that builds a Destination Oriented Directed Acyclic Graph (DODAG, or simply DAG) in addition to a set of features to bound the control traffic, support local (and slow) repair, etc. The RPL architecture provides a flexible method by which each node performs DODAG discovery, construction, and maintenance.
Existing solutions include maintaining multiple next-hop routes to improve reliability and latency in the shared-media communication network. Specifically, in the existing solutions a single routing topology utilizing a common set of metrics (e.g., hop count or estimated transmission count, “ETX”) and constraints (e.g., received signal strength indicator, “RSSI”, threshold to promote link stability) may be built. However, these solutions require devices to choose or at least balance between a topology emphasizing reduced number of hops or a topology increasing route stability because metrics and constraints are often competing factors when building a routing topology.